Bit Trauma is a collective of bright up and coming video game journalists. We run an overall media page covering the newest news, reviews, screens, and trailers. Here lately our roster has been growing and the talent is clear.

In an effort to grow Bit Trauma, we are bringing on a few designated Youtube channels to help entertain our fans. We are currently in partnership with two channels, Da Hooliganz and Indie Life. Indie Life is a channel dedicated to the wonderful world of Indie developed games. It's a work in progress. The main reason for this post is the launch of Da Hooliganz Season 2. Da Hooliganz can be summed up by the following three words: Hardcore, Informative, and Honest. Ladies and Gents, Da Hooliganz Season 2 Episode 1 Part 1 :

[font='lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]Recently Nintendo announced their newest handheld titled the 2DS. Basically the 2DS is exactly the same as a 3DS minus the capability of displaying in 3D as well as the capability of closing the lid. The handheld is literally one solid shell. The entire gaming community is a little confused by this. Shouldn't they have just made a 3DS without the 3D aspect and call it a day? Lets be perfectly honest here, the 3D aspect of the 3DS can be a little heart breaking at times. If you plan on logging in a lot of hours on the 3DS, you may run into some slightly higher than average eye strain. So a handheld without the 3D slider is a good idea for some of us who might view it as a gimmick or have no interest in using the 3D. [/font]

[font='lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]The interesting aspect of the 2DS is the case d[/font][font='lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]esign. It looks like a book in a way. It doesn't close like the DS or 3DS. When you take the time to look outside of the box, it is a splendid idea. I know a few of you might be throwing up a red flag right about now, but hear me out.

It is safe to assume that a large amount of 3DS's have been sent in for repair due to broken screens. This could be due to a number of various reasons. I am putting my money on the fact that parents are buying 3DS's for kids that are younger than the suggested age range. Most kids don't understand the value of what they are messing with. When a 5 year old goes to playing with a 3DS, I am sure things can get a little out of hand. So why not make a handheld that eliminates the aspect of broken hinges? Wallah! Ladies and gentleman, I present to you the Nintendo 2DS. Clearly Nintendo intended the 2DS to appeal to parents and younger children. However, I fear they have lost site of one major issue they will have for the 2DS. [/font][font='lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]
The 2DS features all of the same technology the 3DS does, minus the 3D switch. It's safe to assume the screen is exactly the same. Previously the hinge design guaranteed you weren't going to have any issues with screen defects taking place. You weren't going to be able to scratch a screen covered by the shell. They may have made a sturdier handheld for younger gamers, but they opened up a whole new can of beans by enabling the direct contact and possible destruction of the touch and visual screens.

My final opinion on the handheld is as follows. I like the idea of the 2DS because it is a more affordable handheld that does away with the annoying 3D switch. However, I fear that Nintendo overlooked the aspect of future repairs needed due to screen damage. While this handheld will appeal to parents and little children, it may speak trouble for Nintendo in the long run. Time will tell. Let us know what you think in the comments below. - Antony Gallagher (www.facebook.com/bittrauma)[/font]

I recently purchased Simcity. By recently, I mean I pre-ordered the game and nerded out on launch day. I mean, what kind of Simcity fan would I be if I skipped the first installment of the series in 10 years? When I got off of work I threw the disk in and went into installing mode. You know, that mode you enter when installing a game you are overly excited for? the moment when the install starts, you run and take a leak .. get a drink .. make some food. Lets face it .. no one has time for all that when the game is installed. We are all here to do one thing ... to make amazing cities.

I launched the game. At first I was met with a slew of updates. Generally, I like to see that on launch, it means the developers are fast at work on fixing major issues. Unfortunately ... this gaming session was like no other ... every time I tried to connect ... take a seat .. you are never going to believe this ... connection to server lost. When I did get into game the server would randomly disconnect.

How did this make me feel? You would actually be surprised. I was perfectly content. See, when a major title like this launches, I expect the worse. I fully expect servers to be wonky, laggy, or downright just bad. I expect slews of updates and apologetic messages from developers. We all know accidents happen. I don't mind waiting a few days for them to fix problems that are going to ultimately cause issues with gameplay for me in the long run.

The game itself is overly addictive. The gameplay is fulfilling. The replay value is through the roof. My only issue with Simcity is the fact that the maps are about as big as a medium sized map on Simcity 4. I feel this is something that needs to be changed. They could easily add a new mapset or something with a much larger grid layout.

What does any of this have to do with the title of my post? Nothing.

This is where the fun stops and the BS starts. I decided to write my honest opinion and review of the game. I went to my normal outlets that sale the game via the interwebs. My first stop was Gamestop.com. I rated the game and wrote my full review of it. I noticed the game had many negative reviews. I thought to my self ... are they crazy? My next stop almost broke my heart. I signed into Amazon and searched for Simcity. Before writing my review I decided to read through some of the many other reviews left about the game. Amazon literally pulled Simcity from sales due to low ratings. The users gave it 1 star out of 5. Baffled I continued to read countless ''reviews''. These weren't reviews at all ... they were strictly smear campaigns against the game and its developers due to only one reason, the server issues on launch. Over 1000 reviews summed up by a 1 star rating and a rant about the server issues on day one. Not a single review actually said anything about the game. Each ''gamer'' wrote their ''reviews'' as if the game was never going to get fixed. Keep in mind this is no more than 24 hours after launch. By this point, Maxis has already made many announcements and apologies in regards to the server issues. Even the 5 star ratings were filled with trolling satire and an overall lack of intelligence.

I knew I had to do something. I had to write a review that was intelligent for anybody who actually wanted the truth in regards to the game. I wrote that review no more than 10 minutes after finishing my drawn out reading process of smear reviews. I wrote it as honest as I could. I've been playing Simcity since I was a wee little lad. We've had our moments in terms of the good and the bad. I figured I was well qualified to give a good review comparing what is new and what is old news.

About an hour after my review was approved and posted, I received a number of emails telling me there were comments on my review. Sweet! People are going to be interacting and agreeing that Simcity is actually a great game. Nope! I was accused of working for EA. I was accused of being hired by them to talk the product up. After trying to bring logic into the conversation ... I realized something about the current state of gamers and the internet.

The unfortunate truth about gamers is, most of us have no respect for the hard work that goes into developing these games. We use the internet to smear games without even playing them. We completely take these companies for granted. They spend years working on a product that is aimed to keep us mesmerized for years to come .. only to be ruined by smear campaigns of obnoxious spoiled gamers trying to be the next popular online troll. Granted, not all of us are like that. A large majority of people just don't care enough to take a step back and try to understand how hard developers are working to fix issues. When you write a review trashing a game on launch, it can potentially ruin the market for it. A majority of the reviews I read were about as detailed as an 8-bit game. Most of the people had no clue what they were talking about. They were only interested in joining the flock for acknowledgment.

That is the unfortunate truth. For the select few who hang around to actually play the game and write good solid reviews, I salute you.

One thing I think we as gamers can agree on is that we absolutely love a good deal on games. I myself love it when Steam throws up an awesome deal. It allows me to get a large number of games that I normally couldn't afford at a much more reasonable price. I have been noticing a lot more sites cruising with the ''Humble Bundle Formula''.

The HBF is the idea that a gamer can pay a set amount of money for a collection of games and usually their soundtracks. The money is split among the developers, the site, and charity. This is a very effective idea. Some of the sites that offer this sort of deal allow you to choose how you split your payment. You can literally choose how much you want each of those three to get out of your cold hard cash.

Some of these bundles offer multiple $20 plus games for a collective total of no more than 6-7 dollars. This is a crazy good deal. The only time you will find deals like that is usually say Steam's yearly Christmas sale. I know most of you can find half of that in change under your couch cushions, so naturally this is an idea concept for the gamer looking for something new or the avid couch change collector looking to empty his or her piggy bank.

I only recently jumped on the ''Bundle Bandwagon''. I've paid a total of $19 dollars for the following games via Humblebundle.com and Bundlestars.com.

It's pretty clear that I made out like a bandit. Between those two sites I was able to get 26 amazing games for $19 dollars. The collective value of all of these games is around $361. Keep in mind that is not counting the massive amount of soundtracks I got with one of the bundles. I imagine each of those are valued at around 3-7 dollars. It's clear that the HBF is a beautiful thing for the budget gamer.

This new year brings a gang of new sites on the rise who have the same exact business plan. I would recommend keeping an eye on the following sites for different Indie and none Indie based bundles.

Www.humblebundle.com
www.bundlestars.com
www.indiegala.com

These are the three main sites I watch. There are many more sites who follow the HBF with massive deals on a regular basis.

I think my personal opinion on this is pretty flat out … I love it! I love the idea that I can get massive discounts on new games as well as provide directly to the developers and multiple charities. The HBF is gradually becoming a hot trend for the new year. I personally welcome it with open arms. If you have a bundle story, feel free to share it with the community.